Welcome to our open, self-paced ESL study group. We can and hope to add networks to the group. This blog is the hub where you can find lessons, links to ESL learning resources, leave links to add to the network, post comment and questions. The study group project is experimental. Participate by sharing ideas and suggestions.

From international email discussion lists to online tests, these links cover a wide range of "stuff" to do that you can try out. There are some amazingly comprehensive sites (like Dave's ESL Cafe) as well as smaller sites but very interesting and useful sites. You should find at least one site that makes you say, "Wow, that's cool."

A totally free way to find a language exchange partner from any where around the world. Using the facilities that Huitalk offer you can share your language skills with each other at any time or from any place. There are also articles, reviews, activites and much more.

Open English World provides free activities to help improve your English. The Weekly Idiom will help to improve your spoken English. Business Jargon will improve your business English conversation. Talk English will help you speak English fluently in daily life. The Forum is a place to meet students, ask questions, and discuss activities.

A free service where you can ask a British English Teacher any question about the English Language, or British Culture. Also contains free resources for students: Phrase of the Day, Common Mistakes, Culture, Humour.....updated every day

VocabularyCoach.com offers 6, non-traditional vocabulary exercises to help non-native English speakers learn new vocabulary words. There are over 4,000 vocabulary words in the database, ranked by difficulty, and on several of the exercises students can select various program options. For all exercises, hints and/or additional information for each vocabulary word is given, including secondary meanings, antonyms, example sentences, synonyms, and etymology.

This web site offers a wide range of gap-fill exercises and reading comprehension for pre-intermediate students and above for a fee. (The demo and elementary exercises are free of charge.) A special feature is the use of film scripts for intermediate and advanced students. Learners are encouraged to do regular revising by saving results and comparing statistics of previous efforts. It's not only grammar but leisure and fun that are always in focus!

The FCE Blog is a guide for students preparing for the Cambridge First Certificate in English exam (FCE). It offers guidance to every part of the test as well as learning strategies for autonomous language learners.

Free online language lessons in English and Spanish. Some of the most comprehensive language lessons available on the Internet. Searchable library allows you to find language lessons by level, by language or by language for special purposes.

Metaphor lessons, examples, tutorials, tests and essays for educators, students and writers. Includes visual metaphors, definitions, difference between metaphor and simile. Also has small selection of streaming video clips with metaphor.

Daily lessons for learners of English trying to the learn the language well enough to read authentic materials like the daily newspaper. Includes both reading and listening. Content is very current, often on news happening today.

Operation Mathlog is an internet-based maze designed especially for mathematical-logical EFL learners. The maze comprises a selection of language tasks of different kinds, including anagrams, acronyms, word search grids, word chop exercises, riddles, categorisation tasks, enclosures, arranging tasks, cryptograms, and problem-solving tasks. Each language task is presented on its own web page, and in order to get the address of the following task, learners first have to solve the current task.

A large collection of English vocabulary word lists with many online games that use these word lists. You can choose a word list then choose which game to play or you can first choose a game, then choose which set of words you want to use.

ESL (English as a Second Language) resources to learn the English language for students and teachers. Browse our grammar glossary and language reference area, join our busy forums, read our articles and teacher handouts, and find useful links and information on English here.

Teachers helping teachers: free site with free worksheets, free topics, free flashcards, and free ESL games. Over 700 worksheets, over 1000 flashcards, over 300 reading topics, over 400 question topics, 80 board games, card games for English classrooms. There is also a new writing section which is small but growing.

This site targets listening, reading, and writing skills for EFL and ESL students enrolled in the health sciences. Here they can improve their communication skills in the building blocks of the health sciences: biology, chemistry, and physics. The site is especially useful for Arabic-speaking EFL students.

English Trailers is a fun site were you can study English while watching movie commercials. There is a long list of trailers to choose from. Each trailer has a summary, the script, a cloze exercise and a little quiz to check your English! Try it - you'll like it!

The English Maze is an exciting online English learning environment for ESL/EFL students, teachers and schools. It combines leading web technology with dynamic Speaking, Listening, Reading, Writing & Grammar activities to bring users a unique approach to learning English. Take an English course, chat with friends, find an E-pal, or visit one of the English Maze 'Rooms' to improve your listening and speaking abilities. Includes free lesson plans for teachers.

The Today Page changes daily. It always contains a small number of exercises and short reading pieces. One of these is a "teaser": a question about the English language or some other subject, the answer to which appears the following day. The Today Page is based in Fukuoka, Japan, but its contents change at midnight GMT. If you find that the graphical version loads too slowly over your Internet connection, please use the text-only version: http://www.todaypage.org/indextext.php

EFL Literature Circles are fun, focused reading and discussion groups which allow EFL students to have real, meaningful discussions about literature or stories in English. Our site describes why and how to use Literature Circles with EFL students.

Say What ESL Magazine is created for ESL learners. You will find Grammar Lessons, Games, Quizzes and Magazine Articles for English Language Learners. You will also find useful advice and links for international students.

The main focus is on providing suitable texts for reading, and on using English as the medium for learning about the world around us. Three main sections for my different students: Two NET (Native English-Speeking Teacher) Corners for my students in Hong Kong and ESL4kids for all others. Site contains reading texts and online quizzes.

This is a site for adult ESL teachers and students. It contains some original stories with exercises, student writing on various topics, grammar explanations and exercises, listening exercises, vocabulary exercises, and links to websites with student activities. Some of the exercises are in Flash.

A Vast Collection of free printable ESL lessons for English teachers and students. This site also contains resources for classroom management, ESL activities and information about studying and living in Canada as well as teaching abroad, and more.

B5 Notebook is a web magazine and discussion site for EFL and ESL students. Everyone is welcome. Join and you will have your own journal or diary space on the site. Read stories written by other students. Write about anything you like. Share your opinions and ideas in the discussion. This site is moderated by all the users. Students vote for the stories they want to read.

Great place to learn and discuss the English language. All our forums are free, and professional teachers regularly wander about helping! Topics include Business English, letter writing, Medical English and student chit chat.

A site with activities for ESL students. They are organized by several popular textbooks (Addison-Wesley ESL, English Firsthand, Making Connections), but there are resources for all students, including a message board.

An eclectic site for teachers and students of English as a second or foreign language. The main project is Randall's English Language Emporium and focuses on providing students with the ability to improve their English through self-study and the internet. There are also many links and ideas for teachers.

A FREE site from the British Council to help you learn English. Includes pop songs and lyrics, games and competitions, wordsearches, stories and poems, links and e-cards, information about where to study English.

The Virtual Independant Learning Centre is an extensive collection of English language learning tasks linked to World Wide Web pages and SBS News. These tasks are written by experienced teachers and are growing and evolving daily. The Virtual ILC allows students and teachers to discuss tasks and other issues of interest.

Free, weekly, downloadable, photo-reproducible EFL / ESL English lessons for all ages to supplement any text. Lessons are all communication based with a large variety of lessons including games, activities, pair-work, group work and whole class exercises.

Online English has ESL materials for teachers and learners. Here you will find downloadable teaching materials and lesson plans, teaching tips, Doctor Grammar, quizzes, a hypertext guide to ESL exams, free software to help students with the Cambridge First Certificate Exam (FCE) and lots more.

The ESL Independent Study Lab is designed to help students study English outside of the classroom. There are over 75 annotated, graded, links for reading, listening, writing, grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, TOEFL, content/research and fun & games. Students can also write "site reviews" and submit writing for posting at the Lab via "Interact" activities.

Information on Live Language Live Language Theatre, one of the longest running language teaching theatre companies in Europe. Also The Peninsula Summer School where for the first two weeks of August teachers are trained in how to use drama to improve communication and spontaneity, how to take advantage of the local environment and how to motivate themselves and their students.

English Resource Center for ESL teachers and students, containing projects/lesson plans on various subjects (i.e. Road Safety, Yitzhak Rabin. Site also includes wide range of links to ESL resources. Produced by Amal Pedagogical-Technological Center (Israel).

Contains several different activities such as the ESL Graffiti Wall, ESL Interactive Message Exchange, ESL Link Page, and the ESL Email Connection. The ESL Help Center is also available with ESL professionals who volunteer to answer questions from students

Thursday, June 28, 2007

I have home computing again. It seemed for a while there as though I had to choose between losing files and a lot of work or spending money I couldn't spare. That's when I decided to wait a while and use public access computers. That meant spending less time with this class - less time for both blogging & class administration. I was behind processing applications as well as cleaning out slackers. I also maintain the web site for the Mountainair Chamber of Commerce and write a community blog, Mountainair Arts.

But just a few days ago someone gave me a purged tower. So now I am back working at home - and probably spending too much time online! "Purged" means I have to install programs and have been spending a lot of time waiting on slow downloads on a dial-up connection. I am replacing as many as I can with open source programs.

While waiting on downloads, I caught up with the backlog at efi beginner. We have three new students, one of whom, Poliana, is ready to join us here. Be sure to welcome her when she posts her introduction. I processed 15 applications to join the class. In case you are now wondering if there will be too many students in the class for me to have time for you, many applicants don't complete the application process or never complete the 1st lesson. The other part of today's course housekeeping involved going through all the student folders and clearing everyone who had not sent work or written to the blog in three months or more - cutting more slack for those of you who have been in the class a long time. The next step is to send reminders to everyone who is still in the class but behind with their work.

Thursday, June 07, 2007

So just what IS a phrasal verb anyway? There are many types of two-word and three-word verbs, and even a couple of four-word verbs. Only some of them are phrasal verbs, in the strict sense of the term. Linguists will tell us that phrasal verbs have three distinguishing features.

spoken intonation falls on the "preposition," (properlytermed the particle).The first feature is clear when we listen to ourselves say them out loud. This means it was quite alright to stress the particle in our introductory exercises. (Only a linguist is concerned with distinguishing particle from preposition: the former only exists here in phrasal verbs, the latter is a special class of adverb that indicates mode and has a direct objectnoun.)

almost all of them have a single-word synonym. Weteachers occasionally hear that English has a "double vocabulary," a formal word and a casual one. This is an important instance of where the everyday Germanic foundation doubles with Latin- and French-origin words: pick up versus lift, put down versus place, come in versus enter, go out versus exit.

the parts are "separable." Here is one part that many, many exercise books and even textbooks are mistaken. When the stress is on the particle, as in rule 1, then pronouns and direct objects fit nicely between the two parts: "pick the book up" and "pick up the book."

Saturday, June 02, 2007

It passed 5 months of this year already. Then I checked what I did for my New Year's Day resolusion. I didn't read the book which I decided to read yet. I always failed in reading books. How should I do? I write "Did you read the book today? " and pin it above on my PC. I will take a memo how many pages of the book daily on my journal. I hope it work well.